Preventer Cruiser in Open Space near Lagrange Point Six
"Hey Wufei, you think you could hand me that spare number five cable?" Lucrezia Noin asked of the Chinese man to her left. She was under a console, busy repairing an apparently faulty sensor system. Wufei nodded and picked the short black cable from the tool kit. He then handed it to Noin, who placed it in her mouth and offered a muffled "Fank koo" before disappearing under the console.
Wufei and Noin were not usually partnered together. They both worked for the peacekeeping organization Preventer, but their normal partners were Sally Po and Zechs Merquise respectively. However, both Sally and Zechs had decided to take their vacations at the same time. Zechs was off visiting his sister Relena while Sally was spending time with her family on Earth. As a result, Wufei ended up with Noin as a temporary partner.
Noin rolled out from under the console and wiped the sweat off her brow. Their sensor suite had started to malfunction as they approached the vicinity of La Grange point 6. So Noin had taken it upon herself to fix the problem. She looked up at her taciturn partner and asked, "Are the sensors online now?"
Wufei punched a few keys on the console and checked the sensor systems. "No, we're still out."
The raven-haired woman blew an exasperated sigh and pulled herself off the ground. As she tried to stand, her foot slipped and she would have taken a nasty spill had it not been for Wufei's hand shooting out to catch her arm at the last possible second. Wufei's dark eyes flashed with concern as he hauled her up and looked her over. "Are you all right?" he asked.
Noin flashed him a wide smile. "Thanks for the save, Wufei. I owe you."
Wufei released her arm and grinned slightly before looking back at the console. "We can't do any more here. Our sensors aren't responding. We should head back to MO-V for repairs."
"All right," Noin agreed. "Set a course. I'm gonna head aft to check on all the other vital systems."
"Yes ma'am," responded Wufei as his fingers flew over the controls.
Noin took one more look at the boy before she headed towards the rear of the ship. She smiled crookedly as she slid down the access tube leading to the main systems command panels. He isn't a boy anymore, she told herself. He's changed so much in the past few years...
Stepping up to the control panel, she recollected all that had transpired in the time since the Mariemaia Uprising. The years of peace seemed to have a mellowing effect on the former Gundam pilots. A fine example was her present partner, Wufei. Here he was, working with her in order to stop conflict. She would have never even dreamed it. He was no longer as solitary and antisocial as he was before. He had rediscovered his love of books and scholarly activities and had become less and less caught up with his code of honor and justice. But he had not mellowed out entirely. He still retained his sense of duty and responsibility and it showed; he was one of the most dedicated Preventer agents out there.
Noin's lopsided grin grew a bit wider as she remembered two more quiet warriors who had gone soft: Trowa Barton and Heero Yuy. Trowa was still a very quiet person, but had become more outgoing and friendly as the years passed. He had even cracked a few jokes on occasion. As for Heero, he had surprised everyone by taking a job as a professor of history at a prestigious university. It made sense; Heero was teaching the new generation about the horrors of war, something he knew far too much about from personal experience. Recently, he had begun to crack, reciprocating affection for Relena a bit more openly. Noin herself had caught the two of them holding hands on one of her visits to Earth. It's only a matter of time...
Noin moved to the propulsion console. As she did, she recalled the final two pilots, Quatre Raberba Winner and Duo Maxwell. Quatre had always been the friendly sort, and his affability was only magnified by the years of peace. He was helping in the construction of the new colonies, providing the raw materials needed to build them. He had also started up a fund to aid all the combatants of the past conflicts and/or their surviving families. The ever-optimistic Duo also aided the construction efforts by pouring in material from his salvaging business. Duo was the loquacious type, always calling up his friends, just to check on them and see how they were doing.
Noin turned around and leaned against the panel as she remembered the one pilot who had stolen her heart. Zechs Merquise had opened himself up to her after the Mariemaia crisis. They had first kissed on the planet Mars when they were overseeing the start of the terraforming project. Their jobs had gotten in the way of them escalating their relationship, but they were happy with just each other. They were as devoted to each other as they were to the Preventer Agency. Noin hoped that would change eventually, though. She loved Zechs and didn't plan to spend the rest of her life in the service. She knew Zechs felt the same way. The question was...when would that time come?
The comm unit next to her crackled, causing her to jump slightly. "Noin," Wufei's voice was a bit distorted from the system. She punched the send button and responded. "Yeah Wufei?"
Her partner's voice sounded a little surprised. "We just got main sensors back online. I dunno how, they just restarted themselves."
Noin frowned. These old Preventer cruisers certainly had their quirks. "Understood. Don't change course, though. This old girl's due for an overhaul anyway."
"Roger that. You coming back up? It's almost lunchtime."
She laughed. "Sure thing. I'll be up in a second." Double-checking everything one last time, she headed up the ladder to the cockpit. As she passed a viewport, something in the inky blackness of space flashed. Noin saw it out of the corner of her eye and whipped her head around to try to discern what it was, but it was gone. She thought she had seen something eerily familiar. No, it can't be, she told herself.
Pulling herself out of the hatch, she strode over to the main console. Wufei looked up at her from his adjacent seat, a bowl of soup in his lap. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.
Noin shook her head. "I thought I saw something..." she responded as she initiated a full sensor sweep of the area. Watching the sweep's progress, she was startled with the comm panel started to beep loudly. Wufei slapped the receive button, quieting the console. A screen flashed up on the window in front of them. Noin and Wufei both drew a surprised gasp. It was a priority one message direct from Preventer Headquarters in Brussels. She had not seen that alert in six years. Entering the proper passcode and frequency, Noin waited for the visage of Chief Une to materialize. To her surprise, the serious face of Zechs Merquise appeared.
"Noin, Wufei," Zechs greeted them in his dour monotone.
"What's going on Zechs? Where's Lady Une?" Noin inquired.
The blond man's eyes narrowed into icy blue shards. "That's just it. Someone has tried to kill her."
Wufei shot out of his seat, spilling nearly half his soup. "Is she all right?"
"She's in critical condition. The press is all over us here, wanting to know what happened. We need you two to get here, fast. Sally is already en route. We're still trying to contact Aeron and Mariemaia, but so far no luck."
"I copy," Noin said as she threw all available power to propulsion. "We're going to stop at MO-V to drop this ship and grab a shuttle."
"Understood. Get here as soon as you can." With that, Zechs Merquise's image winked out.
Wufei turned and headed toward the aft of the ship. "I'm going to retool the engines so we can coax some more power out of this thing."
Noin nodded. "I'll contact MO-V and tell them to get a shuttle ready for us." As she worked the comm, she spied the completed scan report printout hanging out of the control panel. Ripping it out, she stuffed it into the pocket of her Preventers jacket.
The engines gave a mighty rumble and the Preventer cruiser blasted towards Earth.
"Hey Wufei, you think you could hand me that spare number five cable?" Lucrezia Noin asked of the Chinese man to her left. She was under a console, busy repairing an apparently faulty sensor system. Wufei nodded and picked the short black cable from the tool kit. He then handed it to Noin, who placed it in her mouth and offered a muffled "Fank koo" before disappearing under the console.
Wufei and Noin were not usually partnered together. They both worked for the peacekeeping organization Preventer, but their normal partners were Sally Po and Zechs Merquise respectively. However, both Sally and Zechs had decided to take their vacations at the same time. Zechs was off visiting his sister Relena while Sally was spending time with her family on Earth. As a result, Wufei ended up with Noin as a temporary partner.
Noin rolled out from under the console and wiped the sweat off her brow. Their sensor suite had started to malfunction as they approached the vicinity of La Grange point 6. So Noin had taken it upon herself to fix the problem. She looked up at her taciturn partner and asked, "Are the sensors online now?"
Wufei punched a few keys on the console and checked the sensor systems. "No, we're still out."
The raven-haired woman blew an exasperated sigh and pulled herself off the ground. As she tried to stand, her foot slipped and she would have taken a nasty spill had it not been for Wufei's hand shooting out to catch her arm at the last possible second. Wufei's dark eyes flashed with concern as he hauled her up and looked her over. "Are you all right?" he asked.
Noin flashed him a wide smile. "Thanks for the save, Wufei. I owe you."
Wufei released her arm and grinned slightly before looking back at the console. "We can't do any more here. Our sensors aren't responding. We should head back to MO-V for repairs."
"All right," Noin agreed. "Set a course. I'm gonna head aft to check on all the other vital systems."
"Yes ma'am," responded Wufei as his fingers flew over the controls.
Noin took one more look at the boy before she headed towards the rear of the ship. She smiled crookedly as she slid down the access tube leading to the main systems command panels. He isn't a boy anymore, she told herself. He's changed so much in the past few years...
Stepping up to the control panel, she recollected all that had transpired in the time since the Mariemaia Uprising. The years of peace seemed to have a mellowing effect on the former Gundam pilots. A fine example was her present partner, Wufei. Here he was, working with her in order to stop conflict. She would have never even dreamed it. He was no longer as solitary and antisocial as he was before. He had rediscovered his love of books and scholarly activities and had become less and less caught up with his code of honor and justice. But he had not mellowed out entirely. He still retained his sense of duty and responsibility and it showed; he was one of the most dedicated Preventer agents out there.
Noin's lopsided grin grew a bit wider as she remembered two more quiet warriors who had gone soft: Trowa Barton and Heero Yuy. Trowa was still a very quiet person, but had become more outgoing and friendly as the years passed. He had even cracked a few jokes on occasion. As for Heero, he had surprised everyone by taking a job as a professor of history at a prestigious university. It made sense; Heero was teaching the new generation about the horrors of war, something he knew far too much about from personal experience. Recently, he had begun to crack, reciprocating affection for Relena a bit more openly. Noin herself had caught the two of them holding hands on one of her visits to Earth. It's only a matter of time...
Noin moved to the propulsion console. As she did, she recalled the final two pilots, Quatre Raberba Winner and Duo Maxwell. Quatre had always been the friendly sort, and his affability was only magnified by the years of peace. He was helping in the construction of the new colonies, providing the raw materials needed to build them. He had also started up a fund to aid all the combatants of the past conflicts and/or their surviving families. The ever-optimistic Duo also aided the construction efforts by pouring in material from his salvaging business. Duo was the loquacious type, always calling up his friends, just to check on them and see how they were doing.
Noin turned around and leaned against the panel as she remembered the one pilot who had stolen her heart. Zechs Merquise had opened himself up to her after the Mariemaia crisis. They had first kissed on the planet Mars when they were overseeing the start of the terraforming project. Their jobs had gotten in the way of them escalating their relationship, but they were happy with just each other. They were as devoted to each other as they were to the Preventer Agency. Noin hoped that would change eventually, though. She loved Zechs and didn't plan to spend the rest of her life in the service. She knew Zechs felt the same way. The question was...when would that time come?
The comm unit next to her crackled, causing her to jump slightly. "Noin," Wufei's voice was a bit distorted from the system. She punched the send button and responded. "Yeah Wufei?"
Her partner's voice sounded a little surprised. "We just got main sensors back online. I dunno how, they just restarted themselves."
Noin frowned. These old Preventer cruisers certainly had their quirks. "Understood. Don't change course, though. This old girl's due for an overhaul anyway."
"Roger that. You coming back up? It's almost lunchtime."
She laughed. "Sure thing. I'll be up in a second." Double-checking everything one last time, she headed up the ladder to the cockpit. As she passed a viewport, something in the inky blackness of space flashed. Noin saw it out of the corner of her eye and whipped her head around to try to discern what it was, but it was gone. She thought she had seen something eerily familiar. No, it can't be, she told herself.
Pulling herself out of the hatch, she strode over to the main console. Wufei looked up at her from his adjacent seat, a bowl of soup in his lap. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.
Noin shook her head. "I thought I saw something..." she responded as she initiated a full sensor sweep of the area. Watching the sweep's progress, she was startled with the comm panel started to beep loudly. Wufei slapped the receive button, quieting the console. A screen flashed up on the window in front of them. Noin and Wufei both drew a surprised gasp. It was a priority one message direct from Preventer Headquarters in Brussels. She had not seen that alert in six years. Entering the proper passcode and frequency, Noin waited for the visage of Chief Une to materialize. To her surprise, the serious face of Zechs Merquise appeared.
"Noin, Wufei," Zechs greeted them in his dour monotone.
"What's going on Zechs? Where's Lady Une?" Noin inquired.
The blond man's eyes narrowed into icy blue shards. "That's just it. Someone has tried to kill her."
Wufei shot out of his seat, spilling nearly half his soup. "Is she all right?"
"She's in critical condition. The press is all over us here, wanting to know what happened. We need you two to get here, fast. Sally is already en route. We're still trying to contact Aeron and Mariemaia, but so far no luck."
"I copy," Noin said as she threw all available power to propulsion. "We're going to stop at MO-V to drop this ship and grab a shuttle."
"Understood. Get here as soon as you can." With that, Zechs Merquise's image winked out.
Wufei turned and headed toward the aft of the ship. "I'm going to retool the engines so we can coax some more power out of this thing."
Noin nodded. "I'll contact MO-V and tell them to get a shuttle ready for us." As she worked the comm, she spied the completed scan report printout hanging out of the control panel. Ripping it out, she stuffed it into the pocket of her Preventers jacket.
The engines gave a mighty rumble and the Preventer cruiser blasted towards Earth.